Boy Wonders: Hainault pupils leap off bus to help man lying in road

Three pupils leapt off a bus to run to help a man in the middle of the road whose heart had “failed”, before calling an ambulance and giving him their coats to stop him from shaking.

Zubir Hussain, 16, Adam Malick and Dhillan Varsani, both 15, from The Forest Academy, Harbourer Road, Hainault, were on the 169 bus in Fullwell Avenue, Barkingside on Thursday when they saw their friends helping a 62-year-old, who was “purple and foaming at the mouth”.

After demanding the bus driver to stop, they rushed to help the man, believed to live nearby, with their friends, Joshua Opolot, and Kevin Suveidradasa, both 14, and moved him out of danger from passing cars.

Zubir said: “He was struggling to breathe and we just had to help him.”

Friend Dhillan added: “The man told us he hadn’t taken his medication for his heart condition, but we didn’t want him to speak too much as he could hardly breathe.

“Three of us stayed with him, while the others ran to get his medication; we didn’t want him to be on his own.”

The friends put a coat around the man as he was “shaking a lot”.

Zubir said: “We were waiting for the ambulance for about 30 minutes. They thought it was a prank call at first, and when they went the wrong way, we ran after them.

“We were telling him not to worry. We were all just in shock.”

A resident who lived close by, but did not want to be named, who went out to help, said: “I heard the boys shouting ‘let us off the bus’ and I just presumed they were having a fight.

“When I looked out they were helping a man and were so composed and calm, and dealt with the situation very well. They could have saved his life.”

Assistant headteacher Dean Taylor added: “These pupils are such great ambassadors to the school, and when I heard about what they had done I thought it was fantastic. All credit to them.”